The present invention relates to ticket handling and processing systems and pertains particularly to a metering module for ticket processing systems.
Tickets are used extensively throughout the world today for controlling the admission of patrons to entertainment and sporting events, and on transportation systems. Automated ticket handling systems are coming into widespread use throughout many areas of the world today for these purposes. Such systems are useful in conjunction with such patron control because it tends to reduce labor costs involved in ticket handling and also reduces losses to theft and pilferage.
In order to be feasible, such automated systems must be highly reliable and durable and easily repaired. While machines are designed to handle tickets with a wide margin of tolerances, it is desirable that only authentic tickets be inserted into the processing system in order to avoid jamming, blockage and/or damage to the systems. Uniformity of ticket size aids in the authentication of a ticket. Machines and systems can be designed to accept only tickets within a certain tolerance range and with coding accurately located within the ticket body.
It is therefore desirable that such system have means for preventing the insertion of non-standard tickets and the like into such systems. It is also desirable for such system to have means for preventing insertion of more than one ticket at a time to permit the sequential processing of tickets without jamming and the like.